Vicky DO’s first solo exhibition poses a matrix of complex relations and historical phenomenon through a perspicuous title – “From Now on” (Bắt đầu từ nay/ 不漏洞拉). Since 2014, Do conducts a long-term ethnographical research on the life of both marginalized Vietnamese and those who are integrated into the local community in Hong Kong. She employs a distinct filmic vocabulary to create socio-political narratives on refugee issues.

By referring to a constantly heard public announcement on radio during the late 80s until early 90s in Hong Kong, the phrase “From Now on” provides a unique cultural and historical context for the Vietnamese refugee crisis: apart from the fact that the phrase had been quoted frequently in popular culture (TV live variety shows and drama) even since then, “From Now on” became a metaphor signifying an identity of deviance for a group of people who escaped from war, abandoned their country to fled for life and take abode in a presumably safer place without securing any safety. By that time, an over-simplistic category of “Vietnamese refugee” or “Vietnamese boat people” allowed general public to easily grasp the concept of a marginalized otherness. However, instability and temporality of such deviant social identity was not thoroughly discussed in the public sphere. As a result, the conflict between “the self” and “the other” reappears like a phantom once another global refugee issue is brought to the table. Do, our artist, does not document her subjects from outside. She is fully aware her origin, also from Vietnam, and her position as a research-based artist. She develops a series of work responding to cultural identity, the power relations that define it and her personal encounter with the authority.

“From Now On” includes a video essay, video installations, interviews, research and archival materials, which have been developed by Do in the last few years.

1. From Now On — a 30-minute personal video essay (to be screened at the opening)
From Now On attempts to trace back to the history of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong and the relationship between the politics and dilemma of refugee crisis with the correspondent immigration policy of Hong Kong towards Vietnamese nationals today.

2. Some-one | No-one — video installation
The work takes an extrovert perspective to explore what have been constituting the definition of “refugee”. Legal judgement, social recognition or the detention camps?
The video installation features commentary by Hong Kong citizen, policemen and Vietnamese.

3. Skyluck — video installation
In February 1979, Skyluck, a vessel departing from Vietnam that carried 2,700 Chinese and Vietnam people, arrived Hong Kong but its passengers was not allowed to disembark. After a long period of statemane, the refugees were reluctant to stay on the vessel and consequently set out an act of desperation, which later led to an international humanitarian incident and discussion. Do aligns this historical event with her personal experience in Hong Kong, and takes Skyluck as a metaphor of ideology and mobility.

4. Don’t ask! — video installation
Don’t ask! is a fictional conversation with a Hong Kong Immigration officer. It is based on Do’s encounter with an officer when she tried to apply working Visa in the last two years. The work exposes the relationship between examination, judgement and hierarchy. Somehow, Do put the power relations with an undertone and sardonic manner.

An event called “Friday Gathering” will be held every Friday during the exhibition period. Details will be announced on social media soon.

About the artist
Vicky DO (or Vi, in Vietnamese), born in Saigon, is a media artist focusing on both still and moving images. She uses art as a response to and alongside her life journey. Vicky works with stories and images as a form of historic preservation, archival, and investigation. She’s interested in the politics of urban planning, national territory and their relationship with the human flow, aka, exodus. She considers herself an activist-videographer, exposing violence and absurdity; and using books as a tool for social-reconstruction. She’s been translating documents for a Saigon-based samizdat publishing house, including monographs about Sino-Vietnamese relationship, Shooting an Elephant (George Orwell), Politics and English language (George Orwell) and so on. Neither a communist nor an anarchist, she tolerates both to a certain extent.

DO was awarded Master of Fine Arts from the School of Creative Media, the City University of Hong Kong in 2016. She is currently working as a filmmaker and researcher.

A former refugee who was forced repatriated back to Hai Phong, Vietnam

An illegal migrant worker and his disillusion

A church session held by the Vietnamese Catholics Association. The organisation was formed by a group of13 female former refugees

Makeshift shelter for both homeless ex-refugees and new Vietnamese illegal migrant workers in Sham Shui Po